This 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona sold for $1.43 million

It’s a winged car which flew higher than any before that.

This 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona was sold at the Mecome Auctions event in Kissimmee, Florida, for a record-breaking $1.43 million. beating the $1.3 million mark Set last May.

The Charger-based Daytona was built just one year to embody its aerodynamic bodywork for NASCAR racing.

The Daytona and its twin brother, the Plymouth Superbird, are among the most iconic race cars in history, with their distinctive heads and high rear wings designed to dominate NASCAR’s high-speed ovals.

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They were so good that NASCAR quickly changed the rules to ban such extreme designs.

Only 503 Daytonas were built for the street in 1969 and many of them are lost to history, as they were initially unpopular with buyers and were not treated with any of the respect they get today.

Daytona was sold for a record $1.43 million.
(Mecom Auctions)

Of those only 70 were ordered with Dodge’s legendary 426 cubic inch Hemi V8 and only 22 matched the engine with a four-speed manual transmission.

The Daytona auctioned by Mecum had both features and was the only one of the 22 painted T5 Copper Metallic cars with a white wing stripe and tan interior, making it a truly unique car.

The car is one of 22 built with the Hemi engine and four-speed manual transmission.
(Mecom Auctions)

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It’s also the lowest mileage original-engined Hemi Daytona known to exist and only has 6,490 miles on the odometer.

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The car has had a notable list of owners over the years, including the late Los Angeles Times owner Otis Chandler, NFL Hall of Famer Kevin Greene, and actor David Spade, whose character drove the Daytona hit in his comedy “Joe Dirt.”

Only 70 Daytonas were built with the Hemi V8, most with automatic transmissions.
(Mecom Auctions)

Spade paid $900,000 for the car in 2015, which was an auction record for the model at the time.

It was one of dozens of Daytonas and Superbirds offered at Mecum by its last owner, collector Gary Edwards, with the rest selling for prices ranging from $247,500 to $742,500, but it wasn’t the only one that went for $1.43 million.

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Bobby Allison drove a NASCAR Daytona car in several races.
(Mecom Auctions)

In a remarkable coincidence, the Daytona NASCAR race car driven by Bobby Allison was offered in Kissimmee by a different dispatcher and sold for the exact same amount as the street car, which also set a record for a competition version of the car.

The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT will be the brand’s first all-electric vehicle.
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Dodge will bring back the Daytona name in 2024 on an entirely different type of car. Charger Daytona SRT It will be the brand’s first all-electric model and will replace its V8-powered cars, which are discontinued at the end of 2023.